“He raped me, I was afraid for my life,” says actress Annabella Sciorra

She testified for almost five hours. The voice asked, briefly swallowing a few tears, actress Annabella Sciorra assured the twelve jurors: “I tried to push him away. I punched and kicked. He immobilized me and raped me. In the dock, Harvey Weinstein remained unmoved.

On the second day, oral arguments by this emblematic trial of the #MeToo movement, Annabella Sciorra, known for her role in the series The Sopranos, was called to the bar by the prosecution. If there is a prescription for her allegations – which date back to 1993-94 – the prosecutor has been authorized by the judge to testify four accusers for Harvey Weinstein. The purpose is to allow the jury to determine whether the producer, who is on trial in New York
for rape and sexual assault on two other women, acted like a “predator”.

Penis-shaped chocolates

Interviewed first by Manhattan attorney Joan Illuzzi-Orbon, the actress detailed her interactions with Harvey Weinstein. How, after playing the mentors, he urged her to accept a role, then sent her Valium and a box of penis-shaped chocolates.

The alleged assault came after a dinner in Manhattan with other people in late 1993 or early 1994. According to the actress, Harvey Weinstein dropped her off with her driver. A few minutes later, when she is in a nightgown and getting ready to go to sleep, there is a knock on the door: the producer then enters his apartment by force, she said. She claims to have told him that she did not want to have sex with him, in vain.

Before very attentive jurors, Annabella Sciorra raised her arms to show how Harvey Weinstein would have blocked them to prevent him from pushing him away. She says she screamed. She adds that she does not remember exactly what happened next. When she regained consciousness, she was on the floor. She said that she then fell into depression, started drinking and intentionally injuring herself by cutting herself.

“I was afraid for my life”

Annabella Sciorra says she confronted the producer a few weeks later. “He said to me, ‘It stays between you and me’. He was threatening. He had a dark look, I thought he was going to hit me. I was scared for my life, “said the actress. She says it took a long time to understand that she had been raped. And did not confide in two friends at the time then in the journalist of New yorker than in October 2017 – 20 years after the fact.

“I wanted to pretend it never happened. I thought (Harvey Weinstein) was someone nice, he was normal. I was confused. I figured I shouldn’t have opened the door, “she said. “At the time, I thought rape was something that happened in dark alleys … By someone you don’t know,” she added.

Finally, she said that at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997, when she returned to her hotel room, Harvey Weinstein was inside in underwear, a bottle of baby oil in hand: “ I pressed all the buttons on the phone. Several people came, he left. “

Against-examination

In cross-examination, defense counsel Donna Rotunno tried to undermine the credibility of this key accuser. She mentioned potentially embarrassing details from her personal story, such as a possible extramarital affair, without visibly destabilizing the actress. She said the actress did not remember the exact date of the alleged rape, that she did not go to the police or a doctor.

The lawyer also played for the jurors an excerpt from a 1997 television program with star presenter David Letterman. In this excerpt, the actress acknowledges sometimes lying to journalists to protect her privacy.

Harvey Weinstein, head bowed during the examination of the prosecutor, straightened up during the cross-examination, carefully watching his lawyer. He is accused of two other alleged acts: a forced sexual assault in 2006 on a former production assistant, Mimi Haleyi, and a rape in 2013 on an actress whose identity was revealed on Wednesday, Jessica Mann. The 67-year-old producer faces life sentence if convicted after the trial, which is scheduled to end on March 6.

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